The European Union: A Politically Incorrect View

摘要

What is happening in Europe? Is Europe building a federal state similar to the United States, the "United States of Europe?" The answer is no. As Article 1 of the recent. European Constitution states, Europe is, and will remain, a union of independentcountries. Nevertheless, an unresolved tension between those who would like the European Union to evolve into a supernational entity (the federalists or supernationalists) and those who would like it to stay a union of independent governments (the intergovernmentalists) has shaped much of the history of European institutions. The natural starting point for a U.S. scholar studying the process of European integration would be the notion of "division of powers." Europe has developed instead a system of "institutional balance" based on overlapping jurisdictions: the legislative, executive and regulatory powers are shared by many institutions, so much so that the distinction itself between legislative and executive acts is blurred—something that would make James Madison turn in his grave.